The decision by Alice Springs town councillors to vote down …

The decision by Alice Springs town councillors to vote down a direction to enter into a non-legal MoU with the NT Government is an absolute travesty of the highest order.
The many spurious arguments made by commentators on this site and on social media have done this project a major disservice, to the point where one gets the feeling that the NT Government (plagued by their own fiscal issues) will pull the pin on the $150m project. And to be honest, I wouldn’t blame them.
The notion that Anzac Oval is sacred purely because it’s named so, as well as its location to Anzac Hill is about far reaching as it gets.
That the high school is a heritage building – please spare me. It’s a dilapidated, asbestos riddled shell of a building that barely anyone, except those that taught or went there would have any attachment to. And even then, its value to Alice Springs as a community is negligible at best.
That the NT Government would even think to invest $150m in a town of this size is fantastic, and with the current economic climate this is exactly what we need.
And we are now putting that all at risk, why? Because 10% of the voting population were so short-sighted to believe the absolute garbage that gets spouted by the vocal few.
The apparent lack of consultation with TOs about the Anzac site was never an issue until it become one because it suited the agenda of those against the Anzac site.
Yes, the NT Government probably could have consulted better – that’s not to say they didn’t at all.
Who’s to say the NT Government didn’t try and consult with Lhere Artepe through this process? It’s been widely reported what a basket-case they are, and the NT Government would have been directed to deal with them as the body representing TOs.
The return we as a community get from the project – two brand new rugby ovals, retained green space and amphitheatre (arguments against losing green space hold zero water), driving local construction and thus employment outcomes, and of course increased tourist numbers.
The local troglodytes and naysayers should give themselves a big pat on the back when SA build what rightly should be in Alice.